Mitsubishi hides defects to avoid mass recall
Beleaguered Japanese car giant Mitsubishi Motors hid 26 defects in its cars from regulators to avoid issuing recalls for the vehicles, it admitted today.
The company acknowledged in 2000 that it had systematically covered up car defects for more than two decades and issued massive recalls for the vehicles affected.
But Mitsubishi Motors only made public and issued recalls for four of the defects, even though it had discovered about 30 of them, the company said in a statement.
The company contacted the Transport Ministry today about its failure to fully disclose the vehicle problems, Kyodo News Agency reported .
The company’s image has been seriously battered by the recalls and the cover up that came to light in 2000.
Burdened with more than €7.5bn in debt, plunging car sales and the recalls, Mitsubishi reported a much steeper than expected loss of more than €1.5bn for the last financial year.
It also suffered when US-German carmaker DaimlerChrysler abruptly announced in April that it would not provide it with a fresh cash infusion.
Sister company Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation has also been tainted by defect cover-up scandals.
The company said today said it would cut the pay of six executives and managers as punishment for their cover-up of wheel and clutch defects to avoid recalls.
